Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. – Frederick Douglas

Power concedes nothing without a demand.” A demand… We demanded that George Bush not invade Iraq.

Millions of people around the globe marched against the war, but power conceded nothing, and the U.S. destroyed an entire country.

We demanded single payer health care for all. It was not allowed on the table.

We told Congress not to bail out the banks. They did it anyway.

On the other hand, the civil rights movement ended racial segregation.

The peace movement forced our government to withdraw from Vietnam and end the draft.

The ANC brought an end to Apartheid, freed Nelson Mandela from prison, and elected him President of South Africa.

So why do some demands succeed and others fail? The common thread I see running through each successful movement is the “teeth” of the demand. It is the real and concrete threat to power that forces concession.

We have a rare opportunity this year to stand behind a movement for prosperity, to demand a Green New Deal that serves the people rather than the corporations, and to give that demand the teeth it needs to succeed: Our vote.

Both Obama and Romney are promising deeper cuts to social services and increased exploitation of our natural resources. Both are completely controlled by the corporations that fund their campaigns.

Their economic policies will bring greater profit to those corporations and deepening austerity to the people. Romney may move faster than Obama, but both are moving in the same direction.

In sharp contrast, Jill Stein’s Green New Deal promises prosperity. Absolutely practical, the Green New Deal is based on sound analyses of economists like Nobel prizewinner Paul Krugman and the historical success of the New Deal that brought us out of the Great Depression.

The Green New Deal creates 25 million living-wage jobs, single payer health care, free public education through college.

It calls for clean renewable energy and restoration of our forests, rivers, and fisheries. It cuts the military budget in half and invests that money in building a new and lasting economy here at home.

So how will you vote? Will you quietly submit to austerity? Will you vote for the XL Pipeline, for hydrofracking, for drilling in the Arctic? Will you vote for indefinite detention, for drones in the hands of our militarized police forces? Will you vote to support Israel’s theft of Palestinian land?

Or will you make your vote count for what we all truly want and desperately need?

Will you vote to return power to the people, for government with integrity, for a healthy and prosperous future for our children and our great grandchildren?

The choice really is that stark. And there is tremendous power hidden in each and every vote. Do not underestimate it.

The Green New Deal is a campaign that will not stop on Nov. 6. If Jill Stein wins five percent of the vote in this election, the Green Party will automatically be on every presidential ballot in 2016 and will receive $20 million in public campaign funding.

Your vote for Jill Stein is powerful. Do not waste it on the lesser of two evils. Make it count!

Dana Silvernale lives in Blue Lake. She is the county council chair of the Humboldt County Green Party, humboldtgreens.org. To contact her, e-mail dsilver@greens.org or call (707) 267-5342. For more information about Jill Stein and the Green New Deal, visit jillstein.org.